The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports for Oraefajokull.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Oraefajokull.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Oraefajokull.

Geological Background

Öraefajökull, Iceland's highest peak, is a broad glacier-clad central volcano at the SE end of the Vatnajökull icecap. A 4 x 5 km subglacial caldera truncates the summit of the dominantly basaltic and rhyolitic volcano. The extensive summit icecap is drained through deep glacial valleys dissecting the SW-to-SE flanks of the volcano. The largest-volume volcano in Iceland, 2119-m-high Öraefajökull was mostly constructed during Pleistocene glacial and interglacial periods. Holocene activity has been dominated by explosive summit eruptions, although flank lava effusions have also occurred. A major silicic eruption in 1362 CE was Iceland's largest historical explosive eruption. It and another eruption during 1727-28 were accompanied by major jökulhlaups (glacier outburst floods) that caused property damage and fatalities.

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Synonyms

Knappafellsjokull | Hnappafellsjokull | Orfialdsjokull

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Hofsfjall

Cone

744 m

Storhofdi

Cone

784 m

Domes

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Hvannadalshnjúkur

Dome

Photo Gallery

Öræfajökull, Iceland's highest peak, is viewed here from the west, with the Svinafellsjökull glacier (left) descending from the central icecap nearly to the coastal road. A 4 x 5 km subglacial caldera truncates the summit, which rises to 2119 m about 10 km NW of the Atlantic Ocean shoreline. A major silicic eruption in 1362 was the largest in Iceland during historical time. It and another eruption during 1727-28 were accompanied by major jökulhlaups (glacier outburst floods) that caused property damage and fatalities.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography. Discussion of another volcano or eruption (sometimes far from the one that is the subject of the manuscript) may produce a citation that is not at all apparent from the title.

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).